I wear a gold lapel pin that says No. 1. I'm never without it. I used to wear it because I'm the Number-One Salesman. Even though I've stopped selling cars and lead a whirlwind life of lecturing before business and industry groups and on college campuses, and writing what I've learned so that others may benefit from it, I still wear that pin because it reaffirms my belief in myself. I'm sold on myself, and that pin says so out loud.
You wouldn't believe the number of people who ask me, "What does your lapel pin mean?" Strangers on planes, people with whom I share a lecture platform or a television camera, even men and women in elevators who usually stare straight ahead and say nothing-they all ask me that question or a variation of it.
I tell them, "It means I'm the number one person in my life." Sound selfish? Egotistical? Not at all. Looking Out for Number One is a book that enjoyed a status for some time as a runaway best-seller. Some readers regarded it as putting forth an extremely self-centered viewpoint. Others, more charitable, saw it as a handbook on enlightened self-interest. I believe that each of those reactions missed the point. The message I came away with was this: If you don't believe you're number one, no one else will. What you must look out for is that belief.
Now, you do this: Go to your nearest good-sized jewelry store or the jewelry department of any large retail establishment. There you will find that you can buy yourself a similar Number-One symbol. Most jewelers have it. I've even seen it in mail-order catalogs. The symbol might be a pin like mine, or it might be a necklace, a bracelet, a charm or a ring. Wherever you wear it and whenever you do, it will flash in the sun or glisten in the light of the room. It will throw a spark back to your eye and remind you constantly that you are number one. It's part of what's called psyching yourself up, selling yourself on you.
MNİDA
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